Method for producing decorative stone

ABSTRACT

A method for producing a decorative stone comprises steps of: cutting a stone or other decorative materials into certain positive pieces having various shape by the water-jet; cutting another stone to certain depth but not through according to the shape of said positive piece to make a negative piece by the water-jet; taking out cut-off pieces from said stone; inlaying said positive pieces into said negative piece to form as an integrated piece; and polishing a surface of said positive pieces and said negative piece. In accordance with the present invention, the water-jet technology can bring high manufacture efficiency and the inlay can be industrialized easily. It also increases the decorative effect through inlaying different pattern and specificity stones.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a field of decorative stones, and moreespecially to a method for producing a decorative stone.

2. Description of the Prior Art

A decorative stone is one type of building stones which has function ofdecoration and can be used for architectural decoration or furnituretops. The pattern of cutting a decorative stone to form certain shape isnormally by a diamond disk saw or a diamond wire saw. Unfortunately,subjected to the restriction of the specificity of the cutting tool andthe work piece, the work piece could not be machined accurately duringmanufacturing. The known machine pattern also fails to machine the workpiece as various predetermined shapes without penetrating the workpiece.

Water-jet technologies are increasingly used for cutting stones. Commonwater is pressurized to 200-400 Mp after filtration and then goesthrough a specific nozzle to form a water-jet having a speed equivalentto three times of the acoustic velocity. This type of water-jet can cutvarious soft nonmetallic materials. With respect of certain hardmaterials such as metal, glass, stone and ceramic, if add certain gravelingredient through a special tool head into the common water-jet, thecapability of cutting can be improved highly so as to cut almost all thematerials. Since the water-jet is one type of cold working, it will notcause any change to the performance of the materials to be operated.Also because the water-jet does not create any mechanical strain duringoperating, there is a smooth surface in the incision.

The art of the stone inlay was used even in the ancient India, but byfar this art is embodied by manual work none the less. However, it is ofcourse not ensured that each product of each-time production isidentical to another, so this art is unable to be industrialized and themanufacturer using this way can not have mass production based on theidentical design of the order form in modem commercial distributionfield.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A primary object of the present invention is to provide a method forproducing a decorative stone which utilizes water-jet to cut stones andinlays different pattern and specificity stones to increase decorativeeffect.

To achieve the above-mentioned object, a method for producing adecorative stone comprises steps of: cutting a stone or other decorativematerials into certain positive pieces having various shape by thewater-jet; cutting another stone to certain depth but not throughaccording to the shape of said positive piece to make a negative pieceby the water-jet; taking out cut-off pieces from said stone; inlayingsaid positive pieces into said negative piece to form as an integratedpiece; and polishing the surface of said positive pieces and saidnegative piece.

In accordance with the present invention, the water-jet technology canbring high manufacture efficiency and the inlay can be industrializedeasily. Additionally, the incision surface is smooth. It also increasesmore decorative effects through inlaying different pattern andspecificity stones.

Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present inventionwill become more apparent from the following detailed description whentaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a positive piece in accordance withthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a negative piece in accordance withthe present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing the inlay of the positive andnegative pieces in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A method for producing a decorative stone in accordance with a preferredembodiment of the present invention includes steps as follows:

At the step 1, referring to FIG. 1, on the basis of requirements ofdifferent designs, various metal molds (namely the first metal molds)are used for cutting a stone (or other decorative materials) intocertain positive pieces 1 having various shape by the water-jettechnology.

Then turn to the step 2, making another set of metal molds (namely thesecond metal molds) which have the same shape as the first metal moldsbut a bit smaller size. Using the second metal molds to cut anotherstone to certain depth. It should be note that here the cut is notthrough, only to certain depth. The actual depth depends on the shapeand the design. Since the second metal molds have a thicknessthemselves, the cut-off pieces is a little larger than the positivepieces 1.

At the step 3, referring to FIG. 2, taking out the cut-off pieces whichhave designated shapes by a tool. The remaining one is called negativepiece 2.

At the step 4, referring to FIG. 3, inlaying the positive pieces 1 intothe negative piece 2 with adhesives to form as an integrated piece.

Finally, at the step 5, polishing a surface of the positive pieces 1 andthe negative piece 2.

Advantageously, it is preferred to choose a sandwich stone tile such asstone-stone, stone-ceramic tile, stone-fiberglass, stone-aluminumplastic, stone-metal, stone-aluminum honeycomb, stone-composite materialor the like to manufacture the negative piece 2. The inlaid sandwichstone tile is made by a combination of a thin layer of stone (2-8 mm)and another layer of other materials. The benefit of choosing a sandwichstone tile lies in that the cutting becomes easier and it is moreconveniently to take out the cut-off pieces for the reason of structuralspecificity of the inlaid sandwich stone tile.

In accordance with the present invention, it could adopt stones havingdifferent pattern and specificity respectively as the positive pieces 1and the negative piece 2 so as to increasing more decorative effects ofthe inlaid piece.

It is believed that the present invention and its advantages will beunderstood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent thatvarious changes may be made thereto without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention or sacrificing all of its materialadvantages, the examples hereinbefore described merely being preferredor exemplary embodiments of the invention.

1. A method for producing a decorative stone comprising steps of:cutting a stone or other decorative materials into certain positivepieces having various shapes by a water-jet; cutting another stone to acertain depth but not through according to the shape of said positivepieces to make a negative piece by the water-jet; taking out cut-offpieces from said negative piece; inlaying said positive pieces into saidnegative piece to form an integrated piece; and polishing a surface ofsaid integrated piece. 2-3. (canceled)
 4. The method as claimed in claim1, wherein adhesives are utilized to engage said positive pieces to saidnegative piece when inlaying said positive pieces into said negativepiece to form an integrated niece.
 5. The method as claimed in claim 1,wherein said negative piece is a common stone tile or a sandwich stonetile.
 6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said sandwich stonetile is selected from the group consisting of a stone-stone, ceramictile, a stone-fiberglass, stone-aluminum plastic, stone-metal,stone-aluminum honeycomb, and stone-composite material.
 7. The method asclaimed in claim 1, wherein said negative piece has a plurality ofnon-through portions corresponding to said cut-off pieces.
 8. A methodfor producing a decorative stone comprising: making at least onepositive piece by cutting a stone or other decorative materials by awater-jet; cutting another stone without passing through by thewater-jet to make a negative piece according to the shape of thepositive pieces; removing cut-off pieces from said negative piece;placing said positive pieces into said negative piece to form anintegrated piece; and polishing a surface of said integrated piece.